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I recently saw the much-anticipated (by me) Sicko, Michael Moore's new doc about the American health care system and its effects on uninsured and insured people alike. The basic premise of the movie is that the health insurance industry in the US is all about making a profit and not about treating or maintaining the health of its patients, and he makes the case quite emphatically for universal health care. Wikipedia article here, Salon's take here.
In the US, 50 million people have no health insurance at all, but Moore focuses in on those who do, and how poor coverage and treatment is under HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations, which, if you're not familiar : HMO.) He talks about the anti- universal health care (aka "socialized medicine") propaganda we Americans are bombarded with and knocks down its arguments, exploring the virtues of govt health care systems in Canada, the UK, and France.
Moore wants to present an (almost) apolitical, populist rabble-rouser of a film that addresses something we all care about, and to light a fire under our asses to do something about it. Unfortunately, at least for me and my moviegoing companions, its immediate effect was an almost crushing depression and feeling of hopelessness in the face of corporate power. I can't claim that as a critique of the film, since he made a point of advising against such inertia. However, the unfairness of the system as presented in the documentary is monumental, and the scenes in Canada and Europe that are supposed to be amusing (lighthearted repartee about vacation time and free hospital stays), instead just filled us with bitter envy and fantasies of emigration.
On our way out of the cinema we were handed flyers by members of MoveOn that exorted us to write our congressmen to ask them to support HR 646, a bill before the U.S. House of Representatives that would create a single-payer system to provide comprehensive health coverage to all Americans. When we got home we visited and signed the petition and lobby email at Sicko Cure. |
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